“They’re the friendliest people in the world,” Matthies said, “even though they have not two rupees to rub together.”
While she doesn’t keep in touch with anyone she met while in Nepal, she was saddened by the earthquake which rocked the country Saturday.
In the best of times, it’s one of the poorest countries in the world, Matthies said. Many of the residents rely on the tourism industry, which may take a big hit in the wake of the earthquake.
“It’s going to be totally disrupted for quite a long time,” she said.
Many of the wooden pagodas will be heavily damaged, if not totally gone, she said.
“There just isn’t much holding them up,” Matthies said. “They’re just so old, centuries. It’s a shame because they were unique to the area.”
A Miami Valley Hospital emergency department staffer, physician’s assistant John Rigano, was in Nepal for a climbing expedition but was unharmed in the 7.8-magnitude earthquake, said Nancy Thickel, a spokeswoman for Premier Health Partners in Dayton.
While Rigano has been unavailable for comment, Thickel said, “according to his Facebook message, he is fine, and he is now trying to depart Nepal.”
In the wake of the massively destructive earthquake, a Lebanon travel agent was concerned about the fate of people who had booked expeditions to Mount Everest through a sister agency in Asia.
Bill Cacciolfi, owner of New World Expeditions and Adventure Travel Agency, was trying to get information about climbers who booked travel to Nepal through an allied travel agency, Asian Trekking in Nepal, to Everest.
“I got in at Saturday at 3 (o’clock), and this all blew up,” Cacciolfi said. “I’ve been on the phone; my wife has been on the phone.
“At this point, we’ve got a team up on Mount Everest base camp,” he said. “Some of them have been accounted for but not all of them. All of our staff in Kathmandu have been accounted for.”
His allied office overseas serves European clients. He said his office in Kathmandu is the “largest trekking agency to do Mount Everest, period.”
Cacciolfi said he knew of no Dayton-area climbers near Everest at the moment. His wife, Arati, is a native Nepalese from Kathmandu, but he said her relatives were unharmed.
Cacciolfi said the typical climbing window to attempt an Everest climb — the two-week time frame that usually offers the best climbing weather — is mid-May. “So everybody’s company’s teams are sitting at (Everest) base camp right now acclimatizing to get ready for the climb.”
Home to Everest and eight of the world’s 10 highest mountains, rugged Nepal is about the size of Florida and has some 27 million residents.
Multiple media reports Monday put the death toll at higher than 4,000 and climbing.
More than 6,500 people have been injured, BBC said. The news agency also said more than 200 climbers have been rescued from near and around Everest.
“The situation is pretty dire,” said Pramod Kantha, a native of Kathmandu and a Wright State University assistant professor in political science.
Kantha said his relatives and friends are fine. “But they’re all on the street,” he added. “They don’t want to go into their homes because they are scared there will be more after-shocks.”
Media reports on the scene spoke of vicious aftershocks, including one measured at a 6.7 magnitude, making recovery and supply work even more difficult — particularly in areas already bereft of modern roads and infrastructure. Rockslides and mudslides were also blocking access to some areas.
“Even in the plains region where I originally come from in Nepal, people are out on the street,” Kantha said. “They’re spending nights finding something to eat.”
“There are places that even helicopters cannot land, because of mudslides and hilly areas,” he added.
The best thing Ohioans can do to help is contribute to charitable organizations, Kantha said.
Donations sought
Laura Seyfang, executive director of the Dayton Red Cross chapter, said there are no distinctly local Red Cross relief efforts.
“The way it always works when a disaster occurs, the local Red Cross (at the disaster site) is always in charge and calling the shots, as it should be,” Seyfang said.
What the Red Cross in Nepal needs now are donor dollars, Seyfang said. Donors can direct their contributions to the Nepal earthquake or to any disaster. Call 1 (800) RED-CROS (733-2767) or go to redcross.org and hit the “donate” button, she said.
“It funnels there,” Seyfang said of contributions. “We don’t save pots of money for when disasters are going to happen.”
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